What do you want to happen to your body after you die?

[mysticwolf]

 

Jay520 said:

Actually, being buried doesn't really steal resources. Unless you're in an air-tight coffin, your corpse will become a home for insects and bacteria to thrive. But even if the coffin is air-tight, it's not going to last an eternity. Eventually, even if it takes a million years, the coffin will deteriorate and your atoms will be free to roam the Earth and do stuff.

In any case, even if you are in a impenetrable coffin (which is impossible), you still aren't taking anything. Your body is merely a particular system of arrangement of atoms from the universe. You aren't taking any atoms from the universe; you just arrange them in a particular system. No, scartch that...you aren't even arranging any atoms; rather, the atoms arrange themselves in a system that is "you". You are the result of movements by the atoms, rather than the other way around. And after you die, those same atoms will exist to do whatever it is they do. Explain how this is selfish?

Yes, I want you to criticize me.

Coffins, in a sense do steal resources. Coffins don't grow on trees, they come from trees. A tree has to be cut down in order for me to be buried in a coffin. Cutting down that tree for my coffin sends the message that I am more important than that tree. If you look at what it takes to make the average wooden coffin, it's a lot more than just wood. Much stuff that could be harmful to the environment.I realize that coffins aren't permanent and that they will eventually break down. But for me, the problem I have is the premise behind it. To me, a coffin sends the message of trying to protect and shield the body from the outisde world. We don't even need coffins. Originally, coffins were used to prevent decay, to stop spread of diseases from corpses, a way to respect and give comfort to the dead, and as a symbol of wealth. We don't need any of those things. 

I never said I was taking atoms away from the universe, I said that if I was to be put in a coffin I would feel like I was keeping my atoms all to myself, instead of giving them back to the earth. Furthermore, I believe the energy in my body would be put to better use on the forest floor or in the ocean, rather than inside a box six feet under.